I stepped cautiously out and tiptoed to her back window.
There the ancient maiden was, busily engaged in the
manufacture of her staple, no doubt in anticipation
of a greater demand for it in these stirring days,
when much extra money would be passing around in the
town, and many pennies thereof would dribble into
the pockets of the youngsters. I lifted the latch
and stepped in. She squeaked with affright till
she saw who it was, and then turned her note into
a gurgle of astonishment.
“Are you alone?” I asked. She nodded.
“Just a minute then, and I’ll be back
again, with a visitor. Keep quiet!”
I returned to the boat, and as I was obliged to move
as stealthily as a cat, I could not help, as I approached,
hearing Joe say emphatically, “I wunna.”
I cursed him silent, without troubling to ask what
he was objecting to, and handed Mistress Waynflete
out.
“Now, Joe,” I whispered, “off you
go back! The moon will be up in a few minutes,
and you ought to do it in an hour. You can sit
in the kitchen all to-morrow to make up for this.”
“Jin said ’er’d sit up for me,”
he said, and I was glad he had such a good motive
to keep him up to his hard task.
“Good-bye, Joe,” said Mistress Waynflete,
shaking the good fellow warmly by the hand. “Give
my loving remembrances to your mistresses and to Jane.
Say how grateful I am.”
“Good-bye, my lady,” he said simply, “and
God bless you.” So that only I could hear
him, he added, “Tak’ good keer on ’er,
Master Noll. Jin’s awful sot on ’er,
and wunna luk at me if any ’arm ’appens
’er.”
I gripped his hard hand, gave him my parting message
home, and then crouched and pushed the boat into and
down the stream. As I lifted my hand from her
and she glided into the blackness, I felt in my heart
that the last link with the old life was broken.
Then, as I rose to my feet, a hand was placed on my
arm, and I tingled in every fibre at this sweet link
with the new life.
THE ANCIENT HIGH HOUSE
I had found Mistress Tonks in her little back room,
where she manufactured marry-me-quick by day and slept
by night. Her cottage contained only one other
room, serving as shop and living room, and fronting
on a narrow lane which turned abruptly from the main
street at the bridge-end to follow the curve of the
walls. By the time I returned with Mistress Waynflete
she had shuttered the window of the shop, snuffed
the candles, and stirred the fire into a blaze.
Marry-me-quick was an ancient, wizened, little woman,
so small that she hardly escaped being a dwarf, humpbacked,
and inexpressibly ugly. In times not so long
gone by she would assuredly have burned as a witch,
and many supposed her to be in league with the evil
one. But in actual fact she was a cheery, voluble,
and warm-hearted little body, and one on whom I could
rely to serve us in this pinch.
